Um . . . oops August already

Well, I won't start with the excuses. Just let me share what we've been up to all month while I haven't been blogging.

I look forward to this market all year, but unfortunately due to the extreme heat and lack of sufficient shade at the venue - it was a bit of a bust. I have vowed to go next year early in the morning and without children. Yes, July in Santa Fe has been hot as well . . and I've loved every sweaty minute of it. Not a huge fan of cold weather. We went two days with a broken swamp cooler and I think there may have been a small amount of complaining, but other than that we're golden. One way to cool off: a dip in Cochiti Lake.
Our new neighbors finally moved in next door. There are now 5 little boys and one girl living on our cul-de-sac and what a brood they are. Most of the time it's great and of course our boys love it, but very little peace and quiet around here anymore (not that there was much to begin with.)


I finally finished the Old Red Barn quilt along quilt. It's ok - not my favorite, but I had fun doing it and seeing other's quilts in the group. I was able to make a second quilt out the scraps and some of Aunt Ginny's fabric she gave me a while back. I ended up liking this one alot actually, especially with the chenille and rickrack.

I've yet to quilt this one because I needed to move onto to other things - my eyes got tired of looking at the same fabrics. Also, making a quilt start to finish - although a wonderful process - takes a long time. I needed a little instant gratification to get my creative juices flowing again. So I started making pillows . . .

and more pillows . . .
I'm far from done - my plan is to have that nice green couch smothered in pillows. I like being able to start a finish a project in less than a day and it's giving me good practice on my machine. I highly suggest a smallish something for when you are feeling burnt out or uninspired. It gave me the boost I needed to finish all my other projects dangling around out there and on shelves in my craft/laundry room.

Hmmm, what else . . .

Finn taught himself how to ride his bike without training wheels. Go Finn!

It was such a trip. I was in the kitchen getting dinner ready and I see Finn through the kitchen window getting on Orion's (neighbor) bike and just taking off! I love everyone clapping and cheering in the background.

Andy picked a monster 15 oz porcini mushroom on a recent hike of his. For real.

I attempted to make homemade essential oils from yummy things in our garden - rose, lavender, lemon verbena. Yeah - not so great. Pretty sure they're headed for the garbage can. If anyone knows of the right way to do this, I'd love some pointers. I'd like to eventually use the oils to make some soap or candles or something. Well, it seemed like a good idea anyway.



I've started collecting recipes for strange/quirky/funny sounding pies from some old cookbooks I've found and borrowed. The best two so far are Funeral Pie and Reconciliation Pie. The recipes themselves don't sound very appealing, but really it's the names of the pies I'm most interested in. Please send along any you might know of; I'm thinking of making an art quilt with each square depicting the name of the pie and an illustration.

And speaking of pie . . . what in the heck happened to July's Pie of the Month? So here it is - but without a photo, but it looks similar to the pie of the same name in my previous post.

Peach Creme Fraiche Pie

1 unbaked pie crust
6 peaches, pitted and sliced
1/2 cup creme fraiche
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
pinch salt

To make creme fraiche: place 1 cup heavy cream and 1 TBS buttermilk
in glass jar with a lid. Shake well and let sit at room temperature for at
least two days, depending on the climate of your kitchen, until it has thickened
and smells mildly tangy and sour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all of the above ingredients
together and pile into unbaked pie crust and top with the streusel (recipe
follows.) Bake for about 45 -60 minutes until the bottom crust has
browned. If the top is getting too dark, cover with foil.

Streusel Topping:

2 1/2 cups All Purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
5 oz unsalted butter, cold and diced
2 eggs, whisked

Mix everything except the eggs together until it is crumbly and resembles a
course meal. Add the eggs and mix until it starts lumping together
loosely. Sprinkle over top of filling.

I actually make this as individual crostadas using small tart rings, but I'm sure it will be just as good in a pie shell. And it goes without saying that you must have very ripe, fragrant peaches to make this worth your while - not to mention a gallon of vanilla ice cream (or caramel would be yummy too).

And Chaco's getting big (and a little less perfect). He's lucky I'm already in love with him because he's turning out to be quite the hand full. I'll be Netflixing the Dog Whisperer DVD very soon. But really, to me, he's fantastic and he gets me out walking - and still sleeping on pillow by my bed every night . . . aaaaaaaw.

Cherry Limeade

Ok I'm back.

My friend Julie from the quilting store invited me to a lecture/presentation at the SF Quilting Guild meeting today. The speaker was renowned quilt artist, author, and teacher Frieda Anderson ( yeah, I'd never heard of her either.) Anyway, it was pretty inspiring. She dyes her own fabrics, which are the best part of it, and she does a lot of fusible applique and tiny itty bitty quilting. She passed some of her work around the room - one of which was the size of a postcard and priced at a whopping $50 buckeroos. So maybe there is money to be made someday. You can check out her quilts at www.friestyle.com/ .

I was easily the youngest woman in the room by about 15+ years - no surprise. I've really chosen a hip and happening hobby, huh? Oh well, you do what you love I suppose. I find it to be rather cool myself. It helps to a part of the quilt-along I mentioned because I've discovered how not alone I am as a thirty something mom addicted to fabric, crafts, and sewing.

Speakin a wich . . . here is my completed quilt top for Dana's quilt-along.

I think I'm calling it "Cherry Limeade" - my neighbor went to Sonic the other day to get one and it made me think of my quilt. I've finished free motion quilting the center and will be doing the border tonite. Now I'm on the prowl for my binding fabric which I want to be in the same family as the darker blue, tile-like fabric in the quilt. Strange, but I think every quilt I have made so far has a significant blue aspect to them. I think my blue bedroom walls are affecting me on some subconscious level. So anxious to paint that room!

I also had a breakthrough today because I finally took Andy's advice and went for a hike even though I felt exhausted this morning. It turned my world around! I haven't done that much since Lu-dog became unable to hike ( and since having babies). I forgot how cleansing it can be - just being out there breathing in the mountain air and feeling the warm sun on my shoulders. Truth be told, we went for an amazing hike with the kids last week at Kasha - Katuwe National Park, aka "Tent Rocks". I forgot how stunning that place is - the last time Andy and I had been there we had only been dating less than a year.

We were very proud of Finn because he hiked the three mile hike up to the top all by himself. Graham is still not entirely fond of hiking - except for the narrow canyon parts and climbing over big boulders. But we're proud of him too because it turned out that I was with him at urgent care that same night - poor guy had a raging ear infection all along. (FYI mom, he's fine)

Easy Peasy

Part two : fill and and crumb coat with chocolate frosting. Complete! As you can see I've delayed grocery shopping until next week so we can empty out our fridge to make room for the cake. If you're wondering, I made an extra 10" cake to make sure they wouldn't run out - second helpings of this cake are always likely. Tomorrow I load up and pray - transport is definitely the most nerve racking part.
I'm back on track now with the quilt-along ; all fabrics cut into nice neat 2 1/2 " strips. Hopefully I can get next week's task done before we leave on our trip - but hey, not that it really matters. I'm feeling all warm and cozy inside because when I checked my flickr account a lot of people had some very nice comments about my fabric choices.


Andy went on an amazing hike the other day and took some killer photos. Wish I could've been there - the trail descends from White Rock down to the Rio Grande. Gorgeous.

Andy is very into petraglyphs. This is just a sampling of the several incredible ones he was able to photograph (despite the rain).

We're headed to the circus tonite - hopefully it won't give my kids clown nightmares - or me for that matter.

Getting Hands Dirty

Yesterday Andy and I started our Spring planting. Perennials from the last couple of years are coming up strong and the risk of freeze is finally over. Just focusing on the front yard for now, especially since we're planning on putting our house on the market in the next week or so. Don't panic anybody - we're not going anywhere. Not yet anyway. We love our casa so it will be a mixed blessing if it happens to sell.

As you can see, we're way into Columbine this year - it's just such a cool looking flower. But I was just informed by my neighbor that this is not such a good spot for them so they may be migrating to the backyard beds.

This could easily turn into an addiction.

Good for me, though, to be outside again getting my hands in the soil - and giving my sewing machine a little rest. Actually, that's not true - it's just that I'm in the middle of free motion quilting my first somewhat large quilt and I can only do a little at a time, because if you didn't know this already - quilting is quite tiring and if you're not in the zone things can get pretty frustrating.

To catch you up on recent projects . . .

This is the wall hanging I made for my mom for Mother's Day. I loved making it and have decided it's much more fun to make a quilt when you have the recipient in mind. I started with the "santos" fabric which I used for the center panels and coordinated a multicultural mix of other fabrics. The magnolias I machine appliqued on top, which conveniently disguise some of my little mishaps - and I think they really add an artful, collage-like quality to the quilt. Applique and I will be good friends I think. Hopefully Mom likes it as much as I do.

Random Monday

Having finished Finn's quilt in a tizzy, I've come to realize that it doesn't do much good to rush through something just to feel satisfied in having it done - it inevitably doesn't turn out how I want it to (same thing happens when I'm baking . . . um, yeah you'd think I'd have learned this truism by now). Not that I hate it - and luckily Finn likes it - I'd just rather not look at it too much you know? But onward ho and time to to get on to other WIP.

This month seems to have flown by, even with our sometimes miserable un-Spring like weather. I'm getting very excited about working in our yard again. Bought some new gloves today so I can start attacking our weeds in the back.

I know you're thinking, why Helen, these are such delightful little purple flowers why would you want to yank them up? Well, yes, we thought that too for a couple of years and finally figured out that these little buggers are responsible for our goathead problem. If you're not familiar with goatheads count your blessings, because to step on one (or ten) packs a painful punch. Why does Nature sometimes wrap up our grievances in such a pretty package?

The kiddos have been quite busy in the dirt lately, constructing miniature worlds for their animals complete with lakes of mud, the occasional bridge, and various other inexplicable contraptions. I love watching them at "work." Their faces have such profound looks of concentration.

And then of course, if I'm lucky, they'll collapse from exhaustion and fall into a surprisingly deep sleep. Wow, they look so sweet and innnocent - my heart goes all a flutter gazing at them like that.

Or like this.

I love the brother thing.

Ta Da!!

Halleluiah!! I finally finished a quilt - I mean actually completely done, washed, laying on the bed. I tell you, making quilts is a very long process but I like that there are so many different steps from cutting and piecing to spray basting and quilting to hand stitching the binding.

I'm especially proud of my binding because I learned how to do it from a great little tutorial at www.crazymomquilts.com. I thought I would have to take another class and I still might when I start to care more how perfect things should be. I'm at a point now where I'm just so happy to be doing this that I'm not to worried about the details.
I'm just about finished with Finn's quilt too; just have to complete that binding as well. Finn's was an exercise in speed quilting because I must admit I'm ready to be done with these so I can get back to the fabrics I truly adore.

It's finally warmed up a tad in the last couple of days which has really lifted my spirits. Life is just better to me when it's warm and comfortable outside - front door open, no shoes, kids running around with their shirts off, neighbors popping by for a chat. Things take on an easier attitude it seems to me - I for one feel more alive and able to move my tired old self. I'm feeling better than I have in weeks, which is largely due to the fact that Gram has allowed me to get a full night 's sleep for the past few days. But partly it's me coming out of my winter hibernation.My folks arrive tomorrow to spend Easter with us. Looking forward to the company - I miss having more family around.

Big Chill

Well, stash those flip flops back in the closet because Winter has returned to Santa Fe and is laughing ha ha ha. Yes, what a fool I was to think I could store away the coats, hat, and mittens. But however much I hate the cold, it was a beautiful sight to wake up to yesterday morning and the kids loved to be out playing in it.

I think all the plants must be confused.

We desperately need the moisture so I'll keep my mouth shut from here on out and just be grateful . . . mmmmm . . . grrrrrr . . . mmmmmm.

It's been a busy week, working and kid stuff and me trying to fit in my sewing whenever possible. Cousin Steph came over to stay with the boys the other night so I could skip over to the quilting classroom fro a quick tutorial in spray basting and straight line "stitch in the ditch" machine quilting. I've made major progress on Gram's quilt and it actually looks like a quilt now minus the binding and some more quilting on the border that I'm waiting until my class tomorrow to learn some free motion quilting. I know, it's all a blur to me too. I can't seem to get enough! I'll show some photos when it's actually complete.

I've also made some headway on Finn's quilt and just purchased some border and backing material for it. I'm still using up Aunt Ginny's scraps - and lo and behold another huge box of fabric landed on my porch yesterday! Thank you Ginny!!!These triangles Ginny had already cut - so really this was a quick one to put together. It has a few more rows now and a couple of borders . . . to be continued.

And speaking of scraps, the boys and I had some fun the other day with some pie scraps I brought home from work. It's a great way to use up the leftovers that are too overworked to be anything else. They just rolled them out, cut the pie circles, poked them all over with a fork and brushed them with egg wash (they liked this part alot), and finally sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar. They were pretty darned tough after being abused by my chefs in training, but hey they didn't give a hoot.


Only a few more days to make a pie for March so momma better get her bootay back in the kitchen!

Red berries, Red blocks, and my dreams

I'm lovin' the flip flop weather lately, although I'm in sore need of a pedicure. But, ah, those little luxuries are off the list of priorities for now. If the same goes for you head out to the store to buy a Ped Egg - it's like a microplane for your feet; awesome!

And to celebrate Spring I think everyone needs to try out this strawberry shortcake. We've been serving it at The Compound for like 5 years now - first brought to us by chef Nancy Oakes from Boulevard in San Francisco. It's a fabulous biscuit. All you need is some macerated strawberries, sweetened whipped cream, and a front porch swing.

3 cups self rising flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups heavy cream
melted butter and sugar to coat

Preheat oven to 350 (if you have a convection option use it at
325). Mix together flour, salt and sugar. Pour in cold heavy cream
and thoroughly combine until you have a smooth dough. Against your better
instincts, knead the dough on the counter for a couple of minutes (they rise
higher when you put some muscle into it - huge departure from regular
butter biscuits which require a very light hand). Roll or pat out to about
an inch thickness. Cut with a biscuit cutter into rounds or just a
knife into squares. Place on parchment lined baking sheet and brush with
butter and sprinkle with sugar to your taste. Bake for approx. 15 minutes
or until golden brown on the edges. Best eaten the same day, but okay for
the next day too.

These are also wonderful biscuits for breakfast or dinner - just decrease the sugar in the recipe to 2 Tbs and leave it off the tops.

I serve the shortcake and strawberries with a Red Wine Strawberry Sauce which makes it a little more grown up and really brightens the fruit:

Reduce 2 cups red wine with a few black peppercorns, a cinnamon stick, and a vanilla bean, and 1 cup sugar until you get a nice syrup. Combine that with some pureed strawberries ( I use frozen ) - adjust the thickness by adding some water if necessary.

I hit a fever pitch last week, trying to finish this quilt top. It was intended for Finn, but of course he said he didn't like it and that he wanted a more red one.Okay Graham - here's the beginning of your life's first quilt! I really love how it turned out. All the fabric (minus the borders) was given to me by my Aunt Ginny. I think the scrappy log cabin design looks very old fashioned, which I thought would be great for the boys. Typically I'm not real fond of busy little prints, but cut into strips like this and put all together, I think it works. Thanks Ginny!!

I started Finn's new "red" quilt last night, which was inspired by a woman's photo of her quilt on Flickr for a virtual quilting bee.I'm kind of making it up as I go along so hopefully it will work out in the end. Monday is my last piecing class and then I get to learn how to actually quilt!

To ease my fabric addiction, I now save every nickle and dime at the bottom of my purse so I can purchase what's called a charm pack of some fabric of one of my favorite designers. Luckily, there's lots to choose from on Etsy and I like to support the Etsy cause. I like to support my local quilting store as well, but apparently they're doing fine. The owner says they must have a recession proof business - more people staying home, making things themselves. How great is that . . . perhaps my paper store idea can metamorphosize into a fabric store idea. Me, surrounded by bolts and bolts of fabric that I get to pick out - what could be better than that?!!

"live your bliss"

It's so nice to see color in our yard again like this bright yellow Forsythia bush just below our front window. That yellow is just so sunny and happy. And all of a sudden there's some green here and there too. In Santa Fe, sometimes it feels like winter will never end - at least for me - Andy would say I have nothing to complain about; the weather here is unbeatable - and I must admit he's pretty much right (yes honey, it's here in black and white.)

So back to Finn's birthday cake. Everyone should have this recipe for chocolate cake. It is fast, easy, stays moist for days and needs nothing other than a tall, cold glass of milk.

To me, it is the quintessential chocolate layer cake - nothing too fancy or showy, just chocolate simple and direct.

Frosting:

1 1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
9 oz chopped dark chocolate (at least 60% cacao and the best quality you
can find)
6 oz unsalted butter, diced
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 TBS corn syrup

Cake:

2 cups granulated sugar
1 3/4 cup All purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder, unsweetened and also the best you can find
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (high altitude = 3/4 tsp)
1 1/2 tsp baking soda (high altitude = 3/4 tsp)
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup whole milk
1 cup boiling water

Start the frosting first so it can have time to cool and thicken.
Combine the cream and sugar in a medium saucepan, stir, and bring to a boil.
Turn down to a simmer and cook for 6 minutes. Add the chocolate and butter and
stir until melted. Stir in vanilla and corn syrup. Let cool in fridge, whisking
occasionally, until it is thick enough to frost with.

Preheat oven to 350. Spray cake pans and line with parchment paper,
spray again (either two 9" or three 8" or one half sheet pan). Ina mixing bowl
combine eggs, oil, and milk and whisk to combine, In another bowl, mix together
flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Combine the wet and
dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Slowly add the boiling water - the mixture
will be somewhat thin.

Pour into pans and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until cake pulls away from
the sides of the pan and toothpick in center comes out clean (a sheetpan takes
about 15-20 minutes). Cool in pans about 10 minutes then turn out and cool
completely. Use a long thin blade to level if you feel like it then layer the
cake with the frosting, swirling it around with spatula to decorate.

Let me know if you try this out. Also, let me know if I'm not descriptive enough in my instructions - it's difficult for me to be objective about it.

On an entirely different note . . . I finished the Rail Fence quilt top. And honestly, I'm not too crazy about it. Several issues for me - partly it's my choice of fabric. My instincts were against the combo but I was really struggling to fulfill the class requirements which were to choose three fabrics - light, medium, and dark. For the life of me I seemed to only be able to pick out medium fabrics - I just didn't like the contrast so much. I think I like a more blended look. But I went for it ( and actually teacher Mary said I still chose three medium fabrics. Say whah?)

But the bigger issue is I don't like the pattern - that big zig zag just bugs me. So not my style - way too organized or something. I knew about half way through I didn't like it but decided to complete it for the class and then cut it up and change it all around later; add some other fabrics, curvy quilting - free it up somehow. I will say this - it was very fast. I came home from class last Monday and finished that night save about nine inches because I ran out of thread.

I am now in what I consider serious obsession mode with the quilting thing. And I tell ya it's great to be here. "Get obsessed. Stay obsessed" I think that's from Hotel New Hampshire, not Garp - ask my brother Mike, he'd know. The only problem is that it's become difficult for me to want to do much of anything else. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Balance, Helen . . . breathe.

My First Quilt Top

I finally finished my quilt squares a couple of days ago and it looks like if I add some borders I can make it big enough for the queen size bed in our guest room. I'll be bringing it to class on Monday - can't wait to hear what our teacher Mary has to say about my intersections. Let's just say I never realized how much 1/16" matters when piecing it all together. Luckily, I don't think anyone else would even bother to notice that they are a bit off and I want it to have a home grown look anyway.I'm really happy with how the fabrics turned out together. I started with the center fabric in the photo - an "oriental" fabric with abstract tulips and went from there, bringing on four other fabrics (two of which are Amy Butler, one of those young, fabric designer moms that I envy.)


I think to some it may seem like a bit much - my friend Julie who works at the quilting shop thinks I have an aversion to solids - but I just love it and can't wait to wrap up in it - I adore the exquisite functionality of the fabric arts. It definately takes on a very different tone than my grandmothers quilts, especially with the bolder, more contemporary patterns in the fabric.


But my hope is that once it is actually quilted it will attain that timeless quality that her quilts seem to have. Since I've begun this new endeavor I often go to my old quilt that she made for me when I graduated highschool. It is extremely weathered now and barely hanging on - in some places there are just stitch holes where the quilting thread used to be. But you can still see the intricate, hand stitched design, especially on the back. It truley blows my mind that she once pumped several of these out on a regular basis.


Our next project in class is a Rail Fence (or Fence Rail) quilt. I've already bought the fabrics with the very last of my grant money and I think it will be amazing - check back for the finished results.


On a completely separate note, Rodeo de Santa Fe starts up soon and Finn decided to get decked out in my cowboy boots and hat the other day. Yee haw!